KingPriest2
10-20-2004, 09:43 PM
Oct 19, 2004, 1:25:28 AM by Jonathan Rand
It should have been the play that turned around the Chiefs’ season. Instead, it will be just an awesome highlight from a season that isn’t promising a lot of highlights.
This was, of course, Trent Green’s heady and desperate flip to Priest Holmes that turned into a 28-yard touchdown play and a 16-14 lead in Jacksonville. That was just the kind of play that can give a team not only a win, but a huge boost in confidence and momentum.
That play should have meant to the Chiefs what Marcus Coleman’s 102-yard interception return meant to the Houston Texans in Arrowhead Stadium last month. That score got an 0-3 team started on a three-game winning streak and into playoff contention.
But the Chiefs wasted the kind of inspirational play that comes along maybe every couple of years. They stand 1-4 and there’s not much to say about their season so far except woulda, coulda and shoulda. If you can’t win a must-win game, the outlook’s pretty grim.
Among all the disappointments from Sunday’s 22-16 loss to the Jaguars, two stand out – the collapse of the defense again at crunch time and the overall failure to make key plays.
The Chiefs’ defense has a nasty habit of making every opposing running back look like Jim Brown. This time, it made quarterback Byron Leftwich look like Joe Montana, as he quickly led the Jaguars down the field for the game-winning score. Just as the Chiefs seemed on the verge of a second-half shutout, their defense broke down again.
Even if Gunther Cunningham can somehow get this defense on track, it’s clear that it needs to add a couple of linebackers and a cornerback to become respectable. This is not shocking because the quality of the defensive personnel obviously was a contentious off-season topic.
What is shocking is that the Chiefs are playing like a team that doesn’t know how to win. They didn’t use smoke and mirrors to achieve a 9-0 start and 13-3 record last year. They won close games and staged stirring comebacks with mostly the same cast. You would think that kind of experience and confidence would serve the Chiefs well this year, no matter how much parity the NFL boasts.
Instead of finding ways to win games, the Chiefs are finding ways to lose them. Their defensive problems are the biggest factor. But on Sunday, Lawrence Tynes missed an extra point and 42-yard field goal try down the stretch.
And the Chiefs failed by less than a yard to get a first down when they had a chance to keep the ball away from the Jaguars for the rest of the game. On the first play of that series, tight end Tony Gonzalez was penalized for illegal motion. It was declined because Priest Holmes gained only two yards, but you can’t afford to commit any infraction on such a pivotal play.
As badly as the Chiefs miss Dante Hall’s touchdown returns, that’s life in the NFL. If one season’s star can’t recapture his magic the next year, another player needs to step up. If defenses start figuring out how to take away part of your offense, you adjust accordingly. The Chiefs, for instance, were able to get Holmes and, especially, Gonzalez more involved in the passing game Sunday.
You can crunch statistics until your teeth fall out but no numbers are as important as whether or not a team makes the plays it takes to win at crunch time. That’s why all the NFL’s also-rans at the end of the season can mentally change five plays that could have put them in the playoffs.
Wouldas, couldas, shouldas. The Chiefs face a monumental task proving that there’s more left to their season than those three words.
It should have been the play that turned around the Chiefs’ season. Instead, it will be just an awesome highlight from a season that isn’t promising a lot of highlights.
This was, of course, Trent Green’s heady and desperate flip to Priest Holmes that turned into a 28-yard touchdown play and a 16-14 lead in Jacksonville. That was just the kind of play that can give a team not only a win, but a huge boost in confidence and momentum.
That play should have meant to the Chiefs what Marcus Coleman’s 102-yard interception return meant to the Houston Texans in Arrowhead Stadium last month. That score got an 0-3 team started on a three-game winning streak and into playoff contention.
But the Chiefs wasted the kind of inspirational play that comes along maybe every couple of years. They stand 1-4 and there’s not much to say about their season so far except woulda, coulda and shoulda. If you can’t win a must-win game, the outlook’s pretty grim.
Among all the disappointments from Sunday’s 22-16 loss to the Jaguars, two stand out – the collapse of the defense again at crunch time and the overall failure to make key plays.
The Chiefs’ defense has a nasty habit of making every opposing running back look like Jim Brown. This time, it made quarterback Byron Leftwich look like Joe Montana, as he quickly led the Jaguars down the field for the game-winning score. Just as the Chiefs seemed on the verge of a second-half shutout, their defense broke down again.
Even if Gunther Cunningham can somehow get this defense on track, it’s clear that it needs to add a couple of linebackers and a cornerback to become respectable. This is not shocking because the quality of the defensive personnel obviously was a contentious off-season topic.
What is shocking is that the Chiefs are playing like a team that doesn’t know how to win. They didn’t use smoke and mirrors to achieve a 9-0 start and 13-3 record last year. They won close games and staged stirring comebacks with mostly the same cast. You would think that kind of experience and confidence would serve the Chiefs well this year, no matter how much parity the NFL boasts.
Instead of finding ways to win games, the Chiefs are finding ways to lose them. Their defensive problems are the biggest factor. But on Sunday, Lawrence Tynes missed an extra point and 42-yard field goal try down the stretch.
And the Chiefs failed by less than a yard to get a first down when they had a chance to keep the ball away from the Jaguars for the rest of the game. On the first play of that series, tight end Tony Gonzalez was penalized for illegal motion. It was declined because Priest Holmes gained only two yards, but you can’t afford to commit any infraction on such a pivotal play.
As badly as the Chiefs miss Dante Hall’s touchdown returns, that’s life in the NFL. If one season’s star can’t recapture his magic the next year, another player needs to step up. If defenses start figuring out how to take away part of your offense, you adjust accordingly. The Chiefs, for instance, were able to get Holmes and, especially, Gonzalez more involved in the passing game Sunday.
You can crunch statistics until your teeth fall out but no numbers are as important as whether or not a team makes the plays it takes to win at crunch time. That’s why all the NFL’s also-rans at the end of the season can mentally change five plays that could have put them in the playoffs.
Wouldas, couldas, shouldas. The Chiefs face a monumental task proving that there’s more left to their season than those three words.